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Fugger

(Encyclopedia)Fugger fo͝ogˈər [key], German family of merchant princes. The foundation of their wealth was laid by Hans Fugger, allegedly a weaver, who moved to Augsburg in 1367. His descendants built up the fam...

Rachel, in the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Rachel rāˈchəl [key], in the Bible, wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She is one of the four Jewish matriarchs. An alternate form is Rahel. ...

Levi

(Encyclopedia)Levi lēˈvī [key], in the Bible. 1 Son of Jacob and Leah and eponymous ancestor of the Levites. His name appears infrequently—at his birth, when he and Simeon massacred the Shechemites out of reve...

Ghent

(Encyclopedia)Ghent gĕnt [key], Du. Gent, Fr. Gand, city, capital of East Flanders prov., W Belgium, at th...

Isaac

(Encyclopedia)Isaac īˈzək [key] [Heb.,=laughter], according to the patriarchal narratives of the Book of Genesis, Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sara. He married Rebecca, and their sons were Esau and Jaco...

El-beth-el

(Encyclopedia)El-beth-el [Heb.,=God of the house of God], in the Bible, name given by Jacob to a place in Canaan where God appeared to him.

Dinah

(Encyclopedia)Dinah dīˈnə [key], in the Bible, daughter of Jacob and Leah. ...

Mieris

(Encyclopedia)Mieris mēˈrĭs [key], family of Dutch genre and portrait painters of Leiden. Frans van Mieris, 1635–81, the most important, was the son of a goldsmith and pupil of Gerard Dou. His tiny, meticulous...

Edar

(Encyclopedia)Edar ēˈdär [key], in the Bible, tower, near which Jacob pitched his tent. ...

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